In the art of knife sheathes or scabbards, recently the use of rigid molded plastic materials to house knives, particularly military all-purpose knives has reached wide acceptance. Examples of such scabbards are illustrated in the above referenced patent applications. Rigid plastic provides good protection for knife blades, is not affected by water and most substances encountered in use and provides an attractive yet rugged and reliable scabbard material. A rigid scabbard also allows its cooperation with the knife when the knife and scabbard have mating pivots to provide a wire, cable and strap cutter. Such a system is also disclosed in the patent application No. 07/025,334 referenced above. Metal clips are often used to provide belt loops to allow the scabbard to be attached to and to be carried on a belt.
One of the problems, however, is that such clips tend to properly hold the scabbard and knife vertically on the belt which is fine for a standing position but troublesome when sitting. Any pivoting systems heretofore have allowed too much movement as in the case of pivoting holsters for handguns.
Another problem with existing sheaths or scabbards is that they are not well adapted to inverted carrying. First, they are not usually suited to attachment to a vertical or cross chest strap. Secondly, they often do not have a positive lock to insure that an inverted knife remains in place yet can be rapidly removed and silently. Certain military operations require inverted carrying but not at the expense of reliability.